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Home John Spirko Spirko's attorneys ask for clemency Spirko's attorneys ask for clemency
Friday, 19 August 2005
By JIM SABIN
19-993-2091
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LIMA - Attorneys for a convicted killer who still maintains his innocence have filed an application for clemency from Ohio Gov. Bob Taft.
John G. Spirko is on death row for the murder of Elgin Postmistress Betty Jane Mottinger on Aug. 9, 1982. He came under suspicion after authorities learned he knew far more about the crime than had been made public, but his attorneys believe Spirko learned that information from the authorities, not from having committed it.
"He's innocent. His conviction was based on a fundamentally unfair trial," said Alvin Dunn, one of Spirko's attorneys through Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, a Washington, D.C., law firm.
"He was convicted on a case that the state has admitted wasn't true."
"The Ohio Supreme Court has refused to delay Spirko's execution, leaving a clemency hearing next week as a last chance," Dunn said.
"These cases are very difficult. There's been a conviction, and the state is trying to preserve it," Dunn said.
"The hearing with Taft will take place Tuesday," Dunn said. The application, which is several inches thick, details the reasons why Spirko's attorneys believe he is innocent.